Now there’s a local development group that presented to the Detroit City Council this week their idea of using these same shipping containers to build condominiums. But get this–they’d cost $100,000-$260,000 each! The units range from 853 sq ft 1 bedroom condos to 1920 sq ft 3 bed, 2 1/2 bath condos. The Detroit Free Press reports that the idea comes from The Power of Green Housing in Detroit, a new Detroit-based company aiming “to become the leader of affordable green and sustainable housing and reduce energy costs by 60% to each consumer.”

We applaud this mission but these prices are in no way affordable to the majority of Detroiters! In August 2008, the Census Bureau reported that Detroit had the nation’s lowest median household income at $28,097. Moreover, 1 in 3 Detroiters live in poverty. If public and private groups truly want to revitalize Detroit, they must come up with proposals that will build low-income affordable housing, along with outlines for rehabilitating and sustaining current low-income homes and apartments.